|
on Small Business Management |
|
Issue of 2014‒03‒08
five papers chosen by Joao Carlos Correia Leitao Universidade da Beira Interior and Universidade de Lisboa |
| By: | Tor Eriksson (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark); Zhihua Qin (Renmin University, China,); Wenjing Wang (Department of Economics and Business, Aarhus University, Denmark) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the relationship between employee turnover, HRM practices and innovation in Chinese firms in five high technology sectors. We estimate hurdle negative binomial models for count data on survey data allowing for analyses of the extensive as well as intensive margins of firms’ innovation activities. Innovation is measured both by the number of ongoing projects and new commercialized products. The results show that higher R&D employee turnover is associated with a higher probability of being innovative, but decreases the intensity of innovation activities in innovating firms. Innovating firms are more likely to have adopted high performance HRM practices, and the impact of employee turnover varies with the number of HRM practices implemented by the firm. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, HRM Practices, Employee Turnover |
| JEL: | L22 M50 O31 |
| Date: | 2014–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:aarhec:2014-09&r=sbm |
| By: | Sadaf Bashir; Uwe Matzat; Bert Sadowski |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes processes and effects of ICT enabled innovation in the Dutch design sector. Although the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is considered as vital in the design sector, little is known about whether and how ICTs affect the firm performance of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in the industry. In introducing a conceptual distinction between ICT supporting the information processing and communication, the paper first examines the determinants of ICT adoption. Next, we analyze the effects of ICT adoption on product and process innovation as well as on firm performance, focusing on the mediating role of the innovation processes. The analyses rest on survey data of a sample of 189 Dutch companies in the Web, Graphic, and Industrial Design Sector in the Netherlands. The results indicate that information processing role of ICT supports the exploitation and communication role facilitates the exploration in organizational learning. The exploitation enables process innovation while exploration enables product innovation. Lastly, Information processing technologies and product innovation are important determinants of superior firm performance. |
| Keywords: | ICT, design, innovation |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ein:tuecis:1401&r=sbm |
| By: | Roberto Antonietti (Department of Economics & Management "Marco Fanno”, University of Padova); Massimo Loi (European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Econometric and Applied Statistics Unit, Ispra) |
| Abstract: | Relying on a rich firm-level dataset, we investigate the factors underlying the demand for foreign languages (FL) by Italian manufacturing firms. As main determinants, we focus on innovation and internationalization activities, these latter ranging from export to FDI. In the empirical analysis, we first estimate the probability of demanding for the knowledge of at least one FL through a set of univariate probit models, in which we also control for other characteristics required by firms, like the type of job, the level of education, the type of experience and the knowledge of informatics. Then, we make the demand for FL interact with the demand for these characteristics by estimating a set of bivariate probit models from which we extract the joint and conditional probabilities. Our estimates show that the probability to demand for FL increases with firm size, human capital intensity, engagement in R&D and in exporting goods, whereas the other internationalization activities are not significant when considered individually. Instead, we find a strong and positive effect on FL demand of increasing commitment to internationalization. Moreover, R&D and internationalization acts like observable substitutes on FL demand. When we further make FL demand interact with other required attributes, we find that the impact of increasing exposure to internationalization is higher when the firm also demands for professional occupations with a university degree, for specific experience and for the simultaneous knowledge of informatics. We conclude that FL are a strategic asset for firms and, from a labor demand perspective, are complementary to high levels of human capital. |
| Keywords: | foreign languages, innovation, internationalization, labor demand |
| JEL: | F16 J23 L60 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:laa:wpaper:57&r=sbm |
| By: | Roberto Antonietti (Department of Economics and Management “Marco Fanno”, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to provide firm-level evidence on the short-run link between outsourcing and labor productivity using an original dataset of Italian manufacturing firms, and applying a two-stage probit least squares estimator. We find a positive effect on productivity from outsourcing only if firms provide training for the workforce. This indirect impact on productivity is independent of the type of activity outsourced and is bigger in the case of service outsourcing. This can be explained by the different feedback effect of labor productivity on training and by the different type of training provided. While production outsourcing induces an organizational change which stimulates off-the-job training for plant operators, service outsourcing induces firms to train a broader range of occupational profiles - both off and on the job. Similar results emerge for the case of joint outsourcing of both production and service activities. Therefore, we find that outsourcing generates positive productivity effects only if it is part of a broader knowledge management strategy that involves upgrading of workers’ skills. |
| Keywords: | Outsourcing, Productivity, Training, Two-Stage Probit Least Squares |
| JEL: | J24 L24 L25 L60 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.12&r=sbm |
| By: | Poschke, Markus (McGill University) |
| Abstract: | How and why does the firm size distribution differ across countries? Using two datasets covering more than 30 countries, this paper documents that several features of the firm size distribution are strongly associated with income per capita: the entrepreneurship rate and the fraction of small firms fall with per capita income across countries, while average firm employment, the median and higher percentiles of the firm size distribution, and the dispersion and skewness of employment all rise with per capita income. The paper broadens existing evidence on the first three facts to cover more countries and newly introduces the last three to the literature. It then proposes a simple theory of skill-biased change in entrepreneurial technology motivated by recent microeconomic literature that fits with the evidence. For this, it introduces two additional features into an otherwise standard occupational choice, heterogeneous firm model a la Lucas (1978): technological change does not benefit all potential entrepreneurs equally, and there is a positive relationship between an individual's potential payoffs in working and in entrepreneurship. If some firms consistently benefit more from technological progress than others, they stay closer to the frontier, while others fall behind. Because wages rise for all workers, marginal entrepreneurs exit and become workers. Quantitatively, the model fits both the U.S. time series experience and cross-country patterns well. |
| Keywords: | occupational choice, entrepreneurship, firm size, skill-biased technical change |
| JEL: | E24 J24 L11 L26 O30 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7991&r=sbm |